"The performance of all governments is constantly being reviewed, reported on and rated by a variety of experts. If one picks up an annual economic and social report on Malawi, it will indicate how the government has performed on various fronts, including sectoral growth, overall gross domestic product (GDP) growth, inflation, exchange and interest rate movements, provision of health and education services, social security, and improved water supply, among others. Such
reports are generally derived from data that has been professionally collected from administrative records. But we rarely hear from the people who directly feel the effects of government successes and failures in each of these sectors. In this bulletin, therefore, our goal is to present the views of the Malawian people on these topics. How do they evaluate the performance of their
governments in general, and their presidents in particular, along similar lines to those covered in these annual economic and social reports?"